4 million 616 thousand people in employment, unemployment rate at 4.8%
In February 2026, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 was 4 million 616 thousand. The number of unemployed persons was 231 thousand and the unemployment rate was 4.8%.1
Employment, December 2025–February 2026
In the period December 2025–February 2026, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 was 4 million 623 thousand, 66 thousand fewer than a year earlier. The number of employed people was down by 34 thousand to 2 million 453 thousand among males, while among females it decreased by 32 thousand to 2 million 169 thousand.
4 million 439 thousand people worked in the domestic primary labour market, 87 thousand fewer than in the same period of the previous year. The number of public workers was 72 thousand, while that of people working abroad was 112 thousand.
Among 15–64 year-olds, the employment rate remained broadly unchanged, easing by 0.3 percentage points2 to 74.7%, alongside simultaneous declines in both the population and the number of employed persons. This rate was 78.4% for men and 70.8% for women.2
Unemployment, December 2025–February 2026
In the period December 2025–February 2026, the average number of unemployed people aged 15–74 rose by 22 thousand to 236 thousand compared with the same period of the previous year. The unemployment rate was 4.9%, 0.5 percentage points more than a year earlier.
The number of unemployed was 125 thousand for males and 111 thousand for females. The rate was 4.8% for men and 4.9% for women.
The average duration of job search was 11.9 months, 37.2% of the unemployed had been looking for a job for less than 3 months, which is 5.7 percentage points lower than in the same period of the previous year. The proportion of those looking for a job for 4-11 months increased by 7.2 percentage points to 28.2%, while the share of unemployed people who had been seeking for work at least a year remained broadly unchanged at 34.6%.
The increase in unemployment is linked to the rising proportion of people who have been looking for work for a longer period of time (4–11 months).
According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service (https://nfsz.munka.hu/), the number of registered job seekers at the end of February 2026 decreased by 2.7% to 226 thousand compared to a year earlier.